US: Mobile poultry slaughterhouse on the move

A mobile slaughterhouse in the US could provide small poultry producers
with more access to retail markets.

According to Deputy Agriculture Secretary Anson Tebbetts, plans are
underway to have the 32-foot trailer operational by March/April of 2008, with
the goal being to give smaller producers access to the "Buy Local"
movement.

The slaughterhouse, costing US$80,000, will include a slaughter room,
scalding pot and processing area, with the capacity to process about 200 birds a
day. State inspection stickers will also be provided.

Currently, with raw material costs soaring, it is becoming too expensive
for poultry farmers to truck live birds to the nearest USDA facility in southern
Vermont.

"The initial plan is to run 8,000 birds through the unit in the first
year," said Tebbetts, adding that "The key part is inspection, so it opens up
every market you can imagineâ€¦poultry could be sold at schools, restaurants,
hospitals, back to the state government. That's sort of where we're heading with
this."